I was still recovering from an acute sore throat infection on the day of the 5K Race for the Cure. In spite of not feeling good, and not having done any physical workout for a week, I decided to run. I was under the impression that 5K should be a walk in the park for someone who runs 12 to 15 miles a week. I was wrong!

The race started as a walk for the first few hundreds yards, then the big crowd started breaking up, giving who ever needed it some room for speeding up a bit. Not me! I was comfortable with the pace of my run (a quick walk actually). Suddenly, someone bumped into my back and passed me, as if she were saying:”get out of the way! I have a race to finish!”.

Going back to my native Morocco after five years absence was quite an experience this past year. I left as a corporate employee, single, glamorous and ambitious and I came back a healer, not glamorous, caring much less about ambitions and much more interested in the realms of love.

A group of Minnesota women and I spent time with my family, and then we visited Casablanca before heading south to Marrakech. We had the privilege to visit the biggest mosque in the world -- Hassan II Mosque -- which was built half on land and half on the sea. It is a jewel of Moroccan architecture. The first day in Marrakech, some of us visited the ancient part of the city, which is colorful, rich and abundant with merchandise of all kinds: spices, olives, almonds, pottery, brass ornaments, carpets, clothing, shoes and much more. We walked all morning and finally stopped to have lunch in a two-story restaurant on the roof overlooking the ancient place of Jamaa El Fenaa. Oh, the food was among the greatest enjoyments of the lands of Morocco. Mostly grown organicly, the food was served in much smaller portions, but it was so tasty. It was the middle of the day. The temperature was hot, yet feeling good.

I for the life of me did not figure out this one yet! If I did, I would be Enlightened already! I wrestle with myself, I know most of the time what I ought to do. However, I don’t yet know how to get myself to do it. I go from one teacher to another, Like a sponge I am ready to absorb, All and every wisdom they want to share with me I get up and leave their classrooms, Feeling that I am better than before, Yet, I am still not free.

I have one humble suggestion to make as of your actual situation, It is inside of you that it needs to be resolved not in the outside. You have no control over how others feel, You have no control over what others do, You have no control over how others react, You have no control over what others believe;

Some things have to be said, But why argue back and forth, Let us learn to state how we feel as is, Let us make no apologies because we are alive, Let us say we don’t know, when we don’t, Let us ask questions when we don’t understand, Let us stop being compliant out of habit, Let us allow ourselves to be seekers of truth, Let us not pretend that we hold the ultimate truth, Let us put out there our request to the universe, That we feel this way or that way, without restraint,

I am thankful to know you, I am grateful that I have you, I am thankful for our interactions, I am grateful for our connections, I am thankful that you are here, I am grateful that it is now, I am thankful to be alive, I am grateful you are alive, I am thankful for this experience, I am grateful for my inexperience, I am thankful for the lands I walk on, I am grateful for the skies I look upon,

For the Sake of you wake up! For the lord sitting in your heart wake up, We having been sleeping for centuries now, The time of getting up is overdue, Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! For the sake of you wake up, I am here, hear me out, I came to weak you up,

Hello my fear and anxiety, You got me at times all wrapped up, In you network of what might happen, I am tiered of you don’t you know, I am exhausted with your same old same old, This feeling of hopelessness, This feeling of helplessness, I have genuine ideas, But you just won’t let it role, Will you?

Please don’t be offended, I am here to shake up the status quo, I am here to weak you up, I am here to remind you, Of the greatness that used to be yours, The greatness of you ancestors, That was based on wisdom and restraint,

May the Network of Love grow, expand, and shine, Through the linking of the souls one heart throbbing at a time, May your heart awaken, May your heart take a sip of the elixir of love, May you taste the glory, May you Burn in adoration, May you be annihilated, If you make it this far we shall fly in the skies with the angels and go beyond, If you dare to come this far you are I and I am you an irradiating bundle of Joy!